Trestle construction



Aug. 16, 1966 F. BORMANN TRESTLE CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 7, 1965 FIG.2

FIG.3

United States Patent 3,266,595 TRESTLE CONSTRUCTION Friedrich Bormann, 9 Serpentine Road, Tenafly, NJ. Filed Jan. 7, 1965, Ser. No. 423,917 1 Claim. (Cl. 182-181) This invention relates to carpenters horses, trestles and the like, which are used as supports for one or more planks to provide a platform raised above the ground or floor. More particularly, the invention relates to trestles of the knock-down type composed of two opposed uprights provided with means at the top thereof receptive of the ends or end portions of a cross-bar or member.

Numerous varieties of knock-down trestles are known in the art. 0n the whole, however, such trestles have two defects of consequence. One defect is that they are insufliciently stable, and a second defect is that they are uneconomical in cost of manufacture.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved knock-down trestle which is readily set up for use or dismantled for storage or transportation, and which is at the same time sturdy and rigid in use.

A further object of the invention is the provision of trestle uprights which are rigid throughout and thus not subject to displacement or loosening of any parts thereof with respect to other parts thereof.

The above as well as additional objects will be clarified in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the exact details shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Referring briefly to the drawings,FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partly in phantom, with parts broken away and partly in section, of a trestle embodying features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the trestle partly assembled.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral indicates the two uprights of a knock-down trestle, both of which are identical and interchangeable.

Each upright 10 is composed of two outwardly extending and divergent legs 11 whose upper extremities are flattened and widened to produce two ears 12 which are deformed out of alignment with their respective legs into mutual parallelity. An elongated sleeve or socket 13,

, rectangular in cross-section, is provided, the sleeve having a top wall 12, a bottom wall 15, and side walls 16 and 17. Near but slightly spaced from the outer end of the sleeve, the mutually parallel ears 12 are welded against the side walls 16 and 17, as shown at 19.

A horizontal cross-member or tie 18 has its ends weldedto the legs 11, as shown at 20', and the tie is positioned above the middle of the height of the legs. An angularly extending member or brace 21 has its lower end welded to the tie 18 at the midpoint of the latter and has its upper end flattened and deformed to provide an ear 22 which is parallel to the bottom wall 15 of the sleeve 13, against the lower surface of which the sleeve is welded as shown "ice at 23. The welding of the lower end of the brace 21 to the tie 18 is shown at 24.

A threaded passage 25 is drilled through the ear 12 and one side wall of the sleeve, this side wall being shown as the wall 16, for reception of a set or lock screw 26. Providing this threaded hole through both the ear 12 and the side wall of the sleeve results in practically doubling the axial length of the whole and thus greatly increasing the bearing area of both the threads in the hole and those on the screw and consequently permitting a much greater tightening force to be applied to the beam 27 supported by the uprights.

FIG. 1 shows the beam 27 in phantom, and its crosssectional area and conformation are preferably such that its ends register slidably and relatively snugly in the opposed sleeves 13, in assembling the trestle. After assembly of the trestle has been completed, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the set screw 26 on each upright is tightened securely, having previously been tightened less securely for possible readjustment of the beam in the sleeves.

Hence, since the uprights are rigid throughout in their construction and because of the elongation of the sleeves, and additionally since the set screw by virtue of the elongated bearing surface provided by the continuous hole 25 through both an car 12 and a side wall of the sleeve, the entire trestle possesses a rigidity such as is desired and is actually necessary to support a truly stable platform or scaffold on which a man or men may stand or walk. It is of course well known that in use two such trestles are required, being positioned in spaced parallel relationship, with the platform or patform boards laid across them.

It is to be noted that the legs 11 and the members 18 and 21 are shown as cylindrical, and they are preferably made of iron or steel pipe for sturdiness and strength.

FIG. 3 shows an intermediate step in the assembly of the trestle with the beam secured to but one upright and the whole tilted and the beam resting on the ground. This procedure is apt to be followed when the trestle is being assembled by but one man. The device shown in FIG. 3 as well as that shown in FIG. 1, may also be userti1 as a police barricade to block entry to a street or pat The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

A trestle consisting of two like uprights and a beam, each upright consisting of two outwardly and divergently extending cylindrical legs, an elongated sleeve rectangular in cross-section having top and bottom walls and opposed side walls, each of said legs having the upper extremity thereof flattened and widened to provide enlarged ears having a width greater than the diameter of the leg, the ears being deformed out of alignment with their respective legs into mutual parallelity, said ears being welded to the opposed side walls of the sleeve in mutual alignment, a horizontal cylindrical cross-tie extending between said legs above the middle of the height of the legs and having the extremities thereof welded to the legs, an angularly extending cylindrical brace having the lower extremity thereof welded to said cross-tie at the midpoint of the cross-tie and having the upper extremity thereof flattened and widened to provide an enlarged ear, said last-named ear being deformed out of alignment with said brace into parallelity with said bottom wall of said sleeve and being welded to said bottom wall, said beam having substantially the same cross-sectional area and conformation as the passage through said sleeve, the ends of said beam registering in said two sleeves, each of said sleeves having a threaded hole through one side wall thereof, that one of said first-named ears which is welded to said one side wall of the sleeve completely surrounding said hole, a second threaded hole extending through said one of said first-named ears in alignment with said first-named hole and together with said firstnarned hole providing a continuous threaded hole, a set screw extending threadably through said continuous threaded hole and adapted to be tightened against said beam, said legs, said cross-tie and said brace consisting of hollow pipe.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,710,644 4/1929 Hilton 182-184 2,325,592 8/1943 Degler 182-184 3,008,535 11/1961 De Vries 182181 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,021,112 11/1952 France.

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner. 

